


New

by vaenire



Category: xXx (Movies)
Genre: 5 + 1, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Canon Typical Violence, M/M, muscle boys in loooooove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 05:18:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10960494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaenire/pseuds/vaenire
Summary: 5 times Hawk and Talon were interrupted + 1 time they weren'tor so





	New

**Author's Note:**

> absolutely insp by watching tony jaa and michael bisping fighting (seprately lol)

Talon would’ve been fine with Hawk beating the guy to death. Not like he didn’t deserve it.

He also would’ve been fine if Hawk hadn’t listened to Xiang’s threat, made Xiang shoot him there in the street.

As it were, Hawk’s first mission on the team ended with Xiang emptying two casings into the air over Hawk’s head. Hawk dropped the poor asshole on his face, his knuckles bloody. The near lifeless man now planted on the ground groaned, spitting out a tooth.

Hawk was new-- new and oblivious to their team dynamic. New-- and tall and broad and British -- and very annoying, in Talon's opinion.

He was always bloody by the end of their missions, grinning toothily-- and there was blood in his teeth, too, always.

He didn't listen to Talon or Serena in the field, only deferred to Xiang when Xiang persuaded him down the barrel of his gun. Bad attitude, a penchant for stupid decisions.

Over all, he was clearly perfect for the Triple X program.

Didn't make Talon like him any better, though.

Which didn't make sharing a hotel room with him any fun, even if it was all four of them sharing the room.

"Fucking oaf," he muttered when he passed the open bathroom door where Hawk was pulling his lip back to find where the blood was coming from. His tooth ripped right through the soft flesh of it when he was punched, no doubt.

"What was that?" Hawk said, rolling his shoulders as he turned to face Talon.

"I said," Talon repeated, enunciating his syllables, "Fucking oaf."

"And what do you mean by that?" He puffed out his broad chest.

Talon honestly thought even a moron like Hawk would know what ‘oaf’ meant. "You can't even dodge a punch, I doubt you'll be around long,” he spat.

"Oh yeah?” he stepped into Talon’s space, crowding him toward the door jam. “You look like you’d be blown away in the wind.”

Talon pushed against his chest, only earning half a step in space. Hawk shoved his shoulder, and Talon immediately responded with a forearm and elbow cracked against Hawk’s ribs.

“You little--” Hawk swung at him, but Talon danced out of his reach with a malicious laugh. Unfortunately, he overestimated how much space he had, and Hawk followed him easily until Talon’s back hit the wall.

Talon gasped-- how fucking stupid was he that he cornered himself; he tried to slam the heel of his hand up into Hawks’ jaw, but Hawk angled his head back and grabbed Talon’s wrist, pushing it against the wall above his head. Before Talon could even decide what to do with his other hand, Hawk pressed it up beside the first, and was still able to block the thigh Talon pulled up to knee him with.

“Now, what were you saying again?” Hawk leered, leaning down into Talon’s space.

Talon glared at him. Hawk laughed in his face, squeezing his wrists together until he could feel them grind.

He didn’t know what possessed him to, but he was leaning up with spite and malice in his eyes and pressing his mouth to Hawk’s until their teeth clacked, until he could taste Hawk’s blood, feel him flinch when Talon ran his tongue over the split inside his lip.

Hawk grabbed Talon’s knee with his free hand, pulling it up to his hip, their tongues sliding together filthily.  

They didn’t notice Serena until she had already unlocked the hotel room door, dropped her keys and bag on the wardrobe, and slammed the bathroom door against the wall.

They jumped apart, Hawk dropping Talon’s wrists and knee like he’d been burned while Talon obviously licked at the blood that had gotten on his lower lip, and stared at her with wide eyes.

“Really boys?” she said, hands on her hips, eyebrow quirked and overall unimpressed. “Save it till you get your _own_ room.”

-

Two months later, the team had a gig from Gibbons that took them to Ulaan Bataar.

Xiang and Serena were chasing a lead-- which was likely to be yet another dead end, frankly-- while Hawk and Talon "held down the base" they set up in their shitty hotel room.

Also known as: Talon on his stomach in a hoodie and sweats pulled down just enough for Hawk to fuck him, his own shirt pulled off and his jeans pulled down his hips. Talon was propped up on his elbows, scrolling on his phone and acting indifferent as Hawk pounded him into the mattress.

Even if Talon pretended to be unaffected, he still bit his lip as Hawk hit that spot, his body tensing when he pulled out to the tip to slam back inside. Hawk was thick and strong and Talon really had to work to keep up the facade of disinterest.

Hawk braced his hands on Talon's shoulders and ground down until his balls were snug against Talon's perineum, his cock as deep as it would go at this angle. He grabbed Talon's ass with both hands and squeezed as he rocked against his hips.

"Oh." Talon bit his lip harder, but couldn't hold back his reaction, bucking back against Hawk.

"Hm?" Hawk said, bracing his elbows on either side of Talon's, pressing his face into the crook of Talon's clothed neck.

He reached up, closing his hand around Talon's phone while his dick dragged across Talon's prostate, and Talon couldn't follow the motion of his swiping thumb, turning on the camera and switching it to selfie mode.

"Shit," he murmured against Talon's cheek, his breath landing on his heated blush. "You're enjoying this more than you let on. Do you know how fucking good your ass looks?" He was pulling his phone away then, pushing back on his knees and taking pictures, and that made Talon tense up, self conscious.

Hawk placed his phone back in his hand, obscene pictures of Hawk's thighs straddling Talon's, his thick cock snug in his ass.

Hawk let Talon look through them himself, going back to teasing, pulling all but the tip out and pushing back in hard and fast, laying his hand against Talon's rim to feel how it stretched around him.

Talon breathed out a long moan, turning to a whine when Hawk slowed his hips once more like the asshole he was.

"What?" he asked when Talon bucked against him angrily. "Is this what you want?" He pushed Talon's hoodie up so he could grip his sweaty lower back, above the dimples there, pressing him down and suddenly taking a punishing pace, their skin slapping together loudly. Talon cried out, his head dropping to lay on the bed.

Talon was too hot-- keeping his clothes on didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. He was going to come and make a mess of the bed spread, another bad idea about the position.

 _Bzzrt, bzzrt_. His phone vibrated in his hand and made his head pop up, eyes trying to focus on the screen.

"Shit," he said. "Get off, Xiang's face timing me."

Hawk groaned, quickly climbing off him. Talon angled the phone under his face so Xiang wouldn't see him, or how he was bare ass naked.

"Hi boss," he said, trying for cheery and surprised but failing to hide the roughness in his voice.

Xiang was wearing shades, of course, smoking a cigarette out on the street somewhere. He was walking.

“Book us a flight to Tashkent,” Xiang said, taking the cigarette from his lips. “Hawk didn’t answer his phone, where is he?”

Talon knew precisely where Hawk was if the finger tracing between his cheeks was any indicator. “Uh, he went to take a piss,” Talon lied. Two of Hawk’s fingers pressed inside and the corners of Talon’s smile hardened, brows furrowing minutely.

Talon shifted his hips, spreading his legs and groaning softly when Hawk started scissoring, pressing his thumb against Talon’s perineum.

Xiang’s brows were furrowed at him, raised in question.

“Sorry boss, I’m just sore,” he said, voice rough and tight.

“Take some painkillers and book those flights. We need to be there by the morning.”

“On it boss,” Talon said with gritted teeth as he felt tongue against his rim. “I’ll-- I’ll get on it. Talk to you later.” He dropped the phone immediately, reaching up to the headboard to push back against Hawk’s mouth and fingers and letting out a wanton moan.

Hawk pulled off, grabbed Talon’s hip and flipped him over; he wrapped his hands around Talon’s ankles and pushed them up toward the headboard, sliding his cock against Talon’s ass.

“What the hell are you doing?” Talon gasped.

“You said you were sore,” he said cheekily. “Figured I’d help you stretch.”

-

Five months later the ended up in Liverpool, and Talon couldn’t help but notice a marked change in Hawk. Something about the city, maybe-- he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

It wasn’t until after their dinner at a cafe one night, as they were walking back to the hotel room, when Hawk got a call.

“Yes-- mum I was gonna call you-- mum listen, I’ve just been busy-- _mum_.”

Talon snickered, shoving at Hawk’s arm.

“Oi, shut up,” Hawk hissed, trying to cover the receiver of his phone to snap at Talon.

He turned his attention back to the phone. "No one, mum-- no it's no one," he assured her, seeming to give up with a long sigh. "Just a friend. We're still busy-- not from here, no."

Talon watched his face closely, noticed how he clenched his jaw and shot Talon a long suffering look that he met with a grin.

"Fine, yeah alright. I'll let you know. See you soon, mum." He paused, "Yeah, love you too. Bye."

Talon nearly cackled at the way Hawk's shoulder sagged as he put his phone back in his pocket. "What happened?"

"She heard me talking to you and insisted we come over for tea."

"What, now?"

Hawk nodded, rubbing his temple. "It's just a few stops down the tube."

"Wait, we've been within a few miles of your mum's place for three days and you never even called her? She's gonna ream you."

"Don't I fucking know it."

Hawk tried to prep him on the way, he really did. It's just, when they arrived at the little flat near the outskirts of the city, he didn't see the need. Hawk's mum-- Margaret, as she insisted on being called-- was a sweet older lady who beckoned them in, pulling Hawk down into a tight hug and pinching his cheeks and absolutely embarrassing him.

"And this is?" she said, turning to Talon.

"A... friend," Hawk said, giving Talon a wide-eyed look that suggested he not say anything more.

"Friend?" she turned to him and pulled him into a hug as well. "Well, Howell never brings _anyone_  around anymore, let alone a friend," she said with a conspiratorial wink. Talon didn't have time to raise his brows are her before she turned away, saying something about fixing tea for them.

"Well," Talon said after her retreating back, "Howell is just a poor excuse of a _son_ , huh?" He heard her laugh from the other room even as Hawk tried to steer him away, back into the living room where stacks of books and manuscripts and what looked to be essays covered every inch.

Hawk took the thick stacks of documents off the couch and pushed them onto some poor old coffee table.

"She's a teacher," he shrugged.

She came bustling into the room not a moment later with a tea kettle and three cup hanging from her fingers.

"Now, I didn't catch your name?" Margaret said, stirring sugar into her tea.

"Ah," Talon said, smiling uncomfortably at Hawk. "Thanam."

"Thanam, what a lovely name. How did you meet?"

Both of them froze. Talon looked at Hawk, hoping he'd have some story prepared.

"Well, you know... I travel a lot for work these days, mum. He works for the company too and we end up on business trips together."

“Oh? What do you do for the company?

“Uh, a good question…” Talon said, deferring to Hawk.

“He’s a great negotiator. Ties up loose ends of deals.”

Hawk’s phone buzzed, the familiar ringtone that Gibbons somehow programmed into all their phones. Hawk excused himself to the front room.

Margaret leaned forward, smiling that familiar conspiratorial smile-- must be where Hawk got it from. “So tell me, how long have you been ‘friends’?”

Talon’s eyebrows shot up, narrowly avoiding a spit take. “What?”

“Oh, come on. I know my son well enough to know he wouldn’t be bringing a coworker home to mum and calling him a friend.”

Talon choked.

She leaned back again, crossing her legs and sipping from her tea. “Howell thinks he’s convinced me that he works at a broker firm. Like he left boxing behind to become a banker.” She rolled her eyes and Talon grinned.

-

It was two more months before Detroit, and the face off with Xander Cage and his team (although Talon couldn’t bring himself to think of them as a real _team_ , how haphazardly they worked together), and a month before their next mission, handed down through X from some unnamable source.

They were somewhere in the southern US, far from any city and hidden away as they licked their wounds and waited for the others to meet them.

It was going to be a few hours until the rest of the team made it to the safe house. The mission had been nasty, and they'd had to separate to fight their way out, and decided not to reconvene immediately, giving it some time to lose any tails that might've picked them up.

Hawk didn't like to be coddled, but he let Talon give him something to bite when he reset his own nose. Talon cleaned the nasty split lip carefully in prep for stitches.

Talon wasn't worried, but it was exasperating after the first dozen times he had to clean up the exact same injuries.

"You could probably find a more effective way to get out of a corner than with your fists," he said, laughter at the edge of his voice, "You oaf."

Hawk's scoff bit off into a hiss when Talon inserted the needle to pull through the first stitch. Hawk couldn't respond when thread was being pulled through the soft flesh of his lip.

"You could learn a better martial art, for example," he continued. "It would save us money on restocking the first aid kit."

Hawk's brows were knit together as he weathered the sharp pain of the second stitch, but he still rolled his eyes.

"Maybe I could show you a few moves," he said as he eyeballed whether a third one was necessary. Maybe not in his lip, but the cut on his forehead was still open... He grabbed the scissors and snipped the thread. He tapped them with his finger gently, to see if they were done (and lowkey to hear that bit back whimper of Hawk's).

Hawk wrapped his hand around Talon's wrist and pulled it away, setting it on the bathroom vanity beside his own hip.Talon grinned up at Hawk, trying to hold his other hand out of his reach. It was useless, though, as Hawk's arms were so much longer than his.

"You're always criticizing my technique," Hawk complained. "Yet, pet, you're just as banged up as me." He pressed his thumb into the purple bruise on the outside of Talon's forearm near his wrist where he'd blocked some asshole trying to swing a rifle at him.

"That's hardly as bad as--"

Hawk let go of his one arm that rested on the vanity now to place it around his forearm near the elbow and squeeze. Talon held his breath to hold in the yelp he almost released.

"Hardly as what?" Hawk asked, just a touch smug.

Talon scowled and twisted his arm out of Hawk's grasp.

"I said it's hardly as bad as getting your nose broken every fucking mission."

Hawk shrugged and sniffed. "I'm used to it."

“And I’m used to it, too,” he said. “But I don’t bleed all over the damn place.”

“So?”

“So, I,” Talon floundered. _So, it’s scarier when you’re always covered in your own blood_.

Hawk’s smug smile melted into something a touch warmer.

"Alright," Hawk acquiesced. "Alright just finish up," he said, gesturing to his forehead.

Talon grabbed another cloth, wetting it before dabbing at the short cut near Hawk's hairline. Hawk sat perfectly still for him, patiently waiting for him to decide whether to glue it shut or stitch it as well.

"It's not bleeding any more, let me get the super glue," he murmured, turning to dig through the kit for it.

When he turned back, Hawk was watching him with soft eyes, his mouth quirked in that smug way that pissed Talon off so much when he was sitting back, waiting for Talon to take care of him. For no other reason than to satisfy the urge, Talon swatted at Hawk's arm before uncapping the glue and setting the cap on the counter before taking Hawk's hands and positioning them to hold either side of his cut close together so he could glue it.

Hawk closed his eyes and leaned ever so slightly into Talon's hand as he secured a bandage over his head. Talon wanted to scold him more, to push the subject of learning more than one goddamn fighting style that always left him with broken bones and noses and bloody scars on his face and his knuckles-- but then those knuckles were smoothing down the side of his face.

"Don't worry," Hawk said smoothly.

Talon, then, leaned into his touch, closing his eyes, and breathing a slow, raspy breath.

"I wouldn't worry so much if I knew you were smarter than a brick wall."

Hawk made a strangled little sound of protest, but shook it off quick, redirecting into a chuckle that he pressed against Talon's temple.

"You..." he trailed off, pressing another kiss on Talon's cheek bone, "Are ridiculous. We're triple X, Talon. We're going to get a little bloody."

Talon shook his head, his hand on Hawk's chest pushing him back so he could look in his face. "But you could learn to not get _as_ bloody. Learn how to actually block hits."

Hawk settled his hand on Talon's hip, and Talon hissed. Another one of the thugs they'd had to fight through to get out had picked up a chair, smashed it over Talon's back as he'd bent over to check Hawk for a concussion.

"You talk so much about blocking hits for someone who comes back purple after every mission."

“Purple?” Talon scoffed.

“I think I’d know,” Hawk said, pulling up his shirt over his hip and poking his ribs so he’d step back, giving Hawk room to get on his knees and pull him close again, his stitches tickling Talon’s middle.

Talon laughed, pushing at Hawk's head.

Hawk wrapped his arms around Talon's waist securely, pecking at the defined lines of his abdomen and the V of his hip to the waist of his shorts.

"Hawk..." Talon breathed, running his fingers through Hawk's tuft of hair on the top of his head. "We should, uh, move?"

Hawk paid him no mind, one hand reaching up to push Talon's shirt under his arms, running his open palm back down over his muscled chest and ribs. Hawk pushed his body flush against Talon's legs, walking forward on his knees until Talon's back hit the wall.

" _Hawk_..." he said, swallowing the way his voice went high at the end.

"Babe," he said between kisses pressed under Talon's navel, that sensitive spot just beside his bellybutton.

Talon clenched his hands into fists, resting them on Hawk's shoulders.

"Let's take this to a bedroom," Hawk said against his stomach. Talon, biting his lip and feeling his face grow hot, nodded silently.

He followed Hawk up the narrow staircase to the bedrooms, the floor of the old safe house creaking under their feet. Hawk pushed the bedroom doors open as they passed, looking for one with a bed bigger than a twin size. THey finally found one when they reached the end of the hall, and Hawk pushed the door open wide so Talon could go past him.

He turned back to Hawk, moving to wrap his hand around the back of his neck and pull him down for a kiss. Before he could, Hawk had pushed him backward until his knees hit the edge of the bed and he was sprawling down on it.

Hawk kneeled between his knees, going straight for the belt buckle, standing back up and yanking his pants off. Talon grinned, giggling and shimmying back on the bed so Hawk had more room between his legs.

Hawk returned his grin as he crawled up the bed to him, hands landing on Talon’s thighs and spreading them further, kneading. He bowed over Talon’s torso again, this time following the lines of muscle over his ribs with his lips. Talon squirmed as the thread of his stitches tickled the sensitive skin there, his hands burying in Hawk’s hair.

“Hold still,” Hawk almost laughed, his voice growing husky and breath warm against Talon’s skin.

Hawk pulled his underwear down, hand skirting back up his thigh to trace circles into the top of his thigh where it met his groin. Talon hissed at him.

He grabbed lube from the nightstand-- the only room in a triple X safehouse was bound to have it nearby-- and raised his brows at Talon before squeezing a generous amount out on Talon's thigh, letting it warm against his body as it seeped down toward his ass.

While he slipped his left middle finger inside Talon, coaxing a soft gasp from him, he grabbed Talon’s elbow with his other hand, pulling it up toward his face to press open mouthed kisses to the bruises along the outside of his forearm, from his wrist moving up. He pressed just hard enough on the purple bruises to elicit groans of pain-- he held tight to Talon’s elbow so he couldn’t squirm away.

He added another finger, pushing in to the knuckle as he moved to kiss the soft skin inside his elbow. He laved his tongue over the sensitive skin, let his facial hair prickle at it and leave it red. Talon hitched one leg over Hawk’s hip and grabbed his shoulder, trying to encourage him to _get moving_. Hawk breathed a laugh into Talon’s elbow, blowing over the skin he’d wetted and making Talon shiver.

A third finger, and Hawk began kissing and nipping down the inside of his bicep. He inched his way down, no doubt savoring the way Talon’s breathing sped up, the leg on his hip tensing when he got to Talon’s shoulder, nosing along to his neck.

He pumped his fingers, fucking him and making Talon gasp and squirm in his grip.

Just then, a door slammed open downstairs.

“Hey, anybody home?” It was Tennyson.

Hawk and Talon froze, Hawk pulling back to look at Talon with wide eyes.

“We could use a hand down here,” Nicks called. “Tens was shot!” Talon thought he heard a muttered ‘ _again_.’

“I--” Hawk started. “Bloody fucking hell,” he said, pulling his fingers out of Talon. “I’ll-- I’ll tell them you’re asleep.” He wiggled out of Talon’s grip even as Talon tried to clench down his leg around his hip.

“They don’t know we’re _here_ ,” he pleaded.

“ _Thanam_.”

Talon groaned, letting his limbs drop back to the bed dramatically.

“ _Fine_.”

-

“Listen,” Talon said, pulling Hawk to the side of Tennyson’s van, “be careful alright?”

Three months had seen them taking more missions, the next coming even faster than the last. They’d been directed toward a cult leader with some nuclear ideations just outside of Newark, and the team was splitting up, working to corner ‘em.

“I’m always careful,” Hawk said.

Talon pursed his lips. “Remember the moves I taught you, and don’t get your nose broken or I’ll kill you.”

Hawk laughed, placed his hands on Talon’s shoulders and leaned down to look him in the eye. “I promise, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Talon squinted at him, put his hand on Hawk’s ribs where he knew he had a sore spot from a poorly healed ribs years ago. “I’ll give you something to worry about, you oaf.”

“You already do.”

Talon furrowed his brows, glaring at him. “Then what’s the point of telling _me_ not to worry?”

Hawk barked another laugh, resting his hand on the side of Talon’s neck.

Someone cleared their throat from the passenger side of Tennyson’s van.

“Uh,” Xander said, “Not to interrupt, but we need to get going.”

Hawk nodded to him over Talon’s shoulder, pecked Talon on the forehead real quick and climbed into the back of the van.

-

While Xander, Tennyson and Hawk went on the ground to prevent the missile from firing, Talon and the others went to catch the ringleader.

Talon knew they should’ve evened the teams more. With how easily they’d caught the idiot with the nuke codes, Talon had forgotten just how much danger they were in down on the ground.

They went to collect the others, Nicks rolling his eyes as he helped a limping Tennyson back to the van. Xiang joined Xander, standing over the lackey that he’d beaten down just feet from the launch pad.

“Hawk?” Talon asked the room at large.

Xander looked up at him, then around the room.

“Where’s Hawk?” Talon said, spinning around to look at Tennyson’s retreating back.

“Ahh, he’d followed someone,” Tennyson said, waving his hand back at him.

“ _What_?”

“Shit, yeah, he’d gone that way,” Xander said, pointing to the far wall of the warehouse.

Talon didn’t wait for any other information, sprinted to the door as hard as he could and paid no mind to the others as they followed.

The door led outside to the docks and lines of cargo crates. The sound of flesh meeting flesh was audible, and Talon immediately beelined to the crates to locate _where_ they were.

Xiang was on his heels as he turned the corner to find Hawk and some asshole in all black wailing on each other. The other man had Hawk’s back against a stack of crates, had landed some good hits on Hawk’s jaw and cheek where it was split and bruising a disgusting brown-purple-- but Hawk was kicking, using his arms to block best he could with how his vision was no doubt limited with his swelling face.

Talon took the ten feet he had between him and the fight to run, jumping onto the man and slamming his knees into his shoulder and head. He felt the man’s head snap the other way and his body crumple under Talon when he landed on top of him. He rolled to his feet and brought his foot down hard on the man’s chest, just to be safe.

He turned to Hawk, who grinned like he had something smart to say-- revealing a chipped tooth and giving Talon a moment to take in just how _blood soaked_ he was, his shirt and his face spattered-- but turned away instead to spit. Hawk leaned back against the crates, his body going limp. Xiang wretched the other guy’s arms behind him, putting weight on his back so he didn’t try anything as he pulled out his phone.

“What the fuck did I tell you,” Talon said with mock-anger in his voice as he pulled Hawk to his feet. Hawk hummed, leaning on him heavily. “I told you to be fucking careful.”

“They’re bringing the van around,” Xiang said. “Don’t push it, Hawk.”

Hawk laughed, but then keeled forward, gasping and clutching his side.

“Broken rib. You motherfucker,” Talon grumbled, “Not _only_ is your nose broken…” he trailed off, helping him lean against the crates.

Talon was relieved to see Nicks pull up in Tennyson’s van-- he wondered for a split second how much convincing it took for Tennyson to let him drive instead-- and Adele popped out of the back to help Hawk in. The others shifted, giving them space so Hawk could lay down. Talon stubbornly sat at his head, propping it up so he could rest it on his thigh.

“Anyone know how to deal with… all this? Broken rib?” Xiang asked, looking at them all.

“Get in, we’re going to a hospital,” Talon told him sharply. Xiang raised a brow at his tone, but bowed his head with a smirk.

“Alright, alright,” he said, climbing into a seat beside Xander.

“Uh, Tens, Google the nearest hospital,” Nicks said.

Talon paid them no mind, running his fingers through Hawk’s bloody hairline to feel if he had any bruising on his skull. Hawk’s eyes were drooping, threatening to fall asleep.

“Hey,” Talon said, knowing it was dangerous for Hawk to sleep before they got him checked over. “Stay awake. Tell me something.”

Hawk hummed, forcing his eyes open. “Your fancy moves didn’t stop my nose from being broken.”

Talon laughed. “You are so fucking irritating,” he said, rubbing his scalp.

“S’why you love me,” he said, managing to sound cheeky even as he gargled on his blood. He looked away and spit some blood onto the floor of the van.

Talon’s hand slowed on his scalp, hyperaware of how open this conversation was, how Hawk was being in his borderline delirious state.

“That’s true,” he said softly.

-

He had a cracked jaw and a splintered rib that needed immediate surgery. The others found a hotel room nearby, but Talon stuck around the emergency room lobby, waiting for news. Xander brought him a cup of coffee at one point, and Becky came an hour later with a bagel.

The doctor came out with the news-- he was resting after the surgery, and he’d need to take it easy for a few weeks.

Talon was allowed in the room, planned to stick around until Hawk woke up so _someone_ would be there. He sat in the chair beside Hawk’s bed and downed the rest of his cold coffee. Even so, his eyes were drooping. He leaned his elbow beside Hawk’s hip and watched his sleep for a while.

His chest didn’t rise as much as it should, his breaths short. His face looked… bad, frankly. His eye was swollen almost completely shut, the gash on his cheek maroon. They’d cleaned the blood splatters off him, at least.

Talon put his head down ons his arm, resting his eyes.

He heard voices from the hall, drifting in the open door-- Becky and Adele. They were talking about something, Talon couldn’t care to follow what they said until they stopped outside the door.

“Oh my god,” Becky whispered. “ _Oh my god_.” She’d spotted Talon leaning over the bed, evidently. Talon measured his breaths, not in a mood to deal with them. “I have to get a picture,” she said.

“Come on,” Adele said. “Don’t, let’s leave them alone.”

Becky made a sound of discontent, but evidently conceded as Talon could hear their footsteps receding back down the hall.

He woke up the next morning with a kink in his neck and Hawk’s hand in his.

-

X (or Xiang, or whoever it was in charge) gave them two months off for Hawk to heal up.

No one pointed out that Talon didn’t really _need_ the time off, too. Or how much extra time they were given-- Hawk needed five or six weeks tops to get back to it.

They flew to Liverpool, for once with their _real_ IDs, and with _checked bags_. Margaret picked them up at the airport, fussing over Hawk-- Howell-- and making sure he was comfortable in the backseat. Talon put their bags in the trunk and sat on the other side of the backseat.

She told Talon-- Thanam-- about the guest room she’d prepared for them. She had been using it as an office, and had to ask some of her colleagues to come help her move boxes of books and papers and miscellaneous things. Talon nodded along, smiling at her in the rear view mirror, reaching out to silently take Hawk’s hand.

“Ah, and that’s Howell’s primary school,” she said as they passed the brick building in a flash. Howell rolled his eyes, smiling at Thanam.

“It’s going to be like that, eh mum?”

“Ooh yes,” she said. “I’ve been digging for your baby photos since you told me you were coming.”

Howell groaned, carefully laying his head back against the seat. Thanam laughed, rubbing his thumb over Howell’s hand. Howell squeezed him back.

Howell tried to grab one of the smaller bags when they pulled up, but Margaret patted his wrist.

“Ah-- ah,” she said, “Thanam and I will get everything. You go in and take a seat, I’ll put water on.”

Howell looked at Thanam, and Thanam had to hide a laugh at Howell’s unhappy expression.

Margaret showed Thanam to the guest bedroom upstairs, opened up the window and pointed out the neighbors yards they could see-- that was where Howell’s childhood friend lived, and down there was an older lady whose cat Howell sat for some spare change.

Thanam went and sat in the living room with Howell, waiting only a minute before Margaret brought a cup of tea for each of them.

Howell put his foot up on a rest and groaned.

“Oh honey, have you taken your painkillers? Let me get them,” Margaret said, shooting to her feet and climbing the steps again to where Thanam put down the backpack with all of the supplies from the doctor.

Thanam leaned forward with a grin, threading his fingers into Howell’s hair and cupping the side of his head. “Poor baby,” he teased him.

“ _Poor baby_ ,” he mimicked, even as he leaned into Thanam’s hand.

Hawk still ended all their missions with blood in his mouth. He was still _annoying_ , in Talon’s opinion.

But _this_ was new. Not so new that it was some kind of revelation, but something about the setting, about sitting and drinking tea in the living room, not worrying about a mission or when someone was going to call them and interrupt.

This time, Thanam didn’t know whether to say _you’re so irritating_ or _I love you_.

He settled for a soft, chaste kiss, muttering ‘oaf’ as he leaned in.

They only broke apart when they heard Margaret on the steps again, but Thanam’s hand stayed on his shoulder.

Margaret looked up from opening the pill bottle, eyes falling on his hand and a small smile spreading on her face until a laugh bubbled out of her.

“Coworkers,” she said, as if the idea were ridiculous.

Thanam and Howell looked at each other and laughed, too.

**Author's Note:**

> BIG s/o to 28ghosts for betaing and morecivilizedage for brainstorming w me <3
> 
> also.... i honestly meant to edit this more but big shrug


End file.
